Personal Tax Tip – What’s a Notice of Assessment?

When you are sent an assessment notice showing additional taxes payable, review it carefully: your arithmetic might have been wrong or you might have claimed a deduction to which you weren’t entitled. On the flipside, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) might have incorrectly denied a deduction to which you were entitled.
If your return was prepared for you, advise the preparer of any changes, upward or downward.
If you prepared your own return and don’t understand the information on your notice, contact your local tax services office immediately for a full explanation.
If the assessment is not in your favour and you aren’t satisfied with the CRA’s explanation, you might want to consult a professional advisor and consider filing a Notice of Objection with the CRA to ensure that your rights are protected. Keep in mind individuals have until the later of (i) one year after the date of the filing deadline for the return, or (ii) 90 days after the date the CRA sent the Notice of Assessment, to file the objection.
Even if there is no additional taxes payable on your Notice of Assessment, you should still
review it to ensure the information on it is correct such as RRSP deduction limits, unused RRSP contributions, Home Buyers’ Plan, and Lifelong Learning Plan repayment requirements, taxable refund interest, or losses available for carry forward.
For more really useful tax tips, visit https://www.bccpa.ca/CpaBc/media/CPABC/News_Events_Publications/Publications/TaxTipsandRRSP/Tax-Tips-2015.pdf

The information presented is only of a general nature, may omit many details and special rules, is current only as of its published date, and accordingly cannot be regarded as legal or tax advice. Please contact our office for more information on this subject and how it pertains to your specific tax or financial situation.